IL TRITTICO: Podcast

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The thriller on the Seine. The suffering, death and glorification of a mother, whose child has been taken from her. And, as a Satyr play, the confidence trick by the shiftiest legacy hunter of the Middle Ages. Three self-contained operas with seemingly unconnected narratives. But are they? Il tabarro, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi – the three one-acters which Giacomo Puccini merged under the art-historical title of “The Triptych” – are snippets of reality. Instead of trying and failing to portray the world in its entirety in a long opera, similar to an epic novel, he gives prominence to three historical events, united in one piece of music, which seek to convey authentically every nuance of human emotion from ruthless coldness of heart to burning passion.

Il tabarro (The Cloak)

Paris, beginning of the 20th century. A barge on the Seine. Hard work with little reward for the day-labourers and stevedores, even the padrone. The people find their humble joy in the small things: a song, a glass of wine, something they may have found, perhaps even a little togetherness. Michele, the owner of the barge, and his young wife Giorgietta once believed that happiness was within their grasp – love, marriage, a child. The child has, however, passed away, and his death has alienated them from one another. Two of Michele’s stevedores, known as ‘Mole’ and ‘Tench’, are experiencing different degrees of luck in their lives. Mole’s wife, called ‘The Rummager’, collects odds and ends, and dreams of spending her twilight years with her husband and cat in a small cottage. Tench drowns his sorrows in alcohol while his wife plays away. A third stevedore, Luigi, blames the exploitative conditions for the misery of the working class. Giorgetta seeks a way out of her haunting isolation and believes she can find this in Luigi, who hails from the same Parisian quarter as she does. She starts an affair with him, an affair in which every tender touch is overshadowed by the fear of being discovered. Both suspect that a future together can only be a dream. Deceiving her husband awakens within Giorgetta an old feeling of solidarity with him. But it is all too late for reconciliation. Michele’s suspicions are confirmed, and the affair reaches a fatal end. Underneath Michele’s cloak, once a sign of safety for Giorgetta, a crime is concealed.

Suor Angelica (Sister Angelica)

An Italian convent, end of the 17th century. Strict rules denote life in the convent. The women pray and work, each with their own duty: the lay sisters perform simple tasks, the mistress instructs the novices, the monitress oversees the rules, the nursing sister looks after the sick, and the alms sisters procure donations from the outside world. Sister Angelica, responsible for the convent’s medicinal herbs, arrived seven years ago. The reason for her arrival is unknown to her fellow sisters, although it is obvious to them all that she carries a sad secret within. It is her child of whom she thinks constantly. Immediately after birth, the unmarried young mother, whose parents had died early, had her child taken away from her and was banished to the convent as punishment for bringing shame on the family. Now, though, she receives her first visitor: her aunt, the Princess, demands that Angelica renounce her share of the family inheritance so that her younger sister may wed. The strict Princess mentions no word of the child at first, only doing so after Angelica threatens to curse her. In empty words, her aunt informs her that the boy passed away two years previously from a serious illness. In her despair, Angelica imagines being called by her son and wishes to be reunited with him in Heaven. She uses her knowledge of herbs to concoct a poison. But while drinking the deadly potion, she realises that she is committing a mortal sin and fears being damned to eternal separation from her son. An apparition restores her already-diminished faith: the Virgin Mary brings Angelica and her beloved child together.

Gianni Schicchi

Florence, the year 1299. Rich, old Buoso Donati has died, and his relatives are gathered around his deathbed in expectation of receipt of his material legacy. The rumour, however, is that Buoso has bequeathed everything to the monks. His family feverishly search for his will and discover, as feared, that they have been disinherited. Buoso’s oldest relative, Simone, believes that nothing can be done. But young Rinuccio, his nephew, knows who can help: Gianni Schicchi – an upstart from the countryside, sure, but one who knows every trick in the book. Rinuccio’s suggestion is not altogether unselfish, while he is in love with Schicchi’s daughter Lauretta, and hopes that her father can convince the older Donatis to consent to this coupling of two people from very different social classes. Schicchi, pre-emptively invited by Rinuccio, is so disgusted by the arrogance of Zita and all the other Donatis that he decides that he and his daughter should leave again immediately. But Lauretta, just like her father, begs him to stay and insinuates in a disarming tone that she would rather take her own life. Schicchi then backs down and ultimately has the perfect idea. As nobody but those present are aware of Buoso’s death, he slips into the role of the deceased, makes a fool of the vain doctor, and then, disguised and with an affected voice, composes a new will and testament with the notary in Buoso’s name. He naturally bequeaths the family more than the deceased had, but they must angrily watch as Schicchi then claims the majority of the wealth for himself. None of them dare to uncover the deception, however, as he makes it very clear what kind of punishment would await them as accomplices. At the end, the young couple kiss, while Schicchi turns to the audience and pleads for them to forgive his misdeed in light of the circumstances having benefitted the young lovers.

Kirill Petrenko was born in Omsk in 1972 where he studied piano at the College of Music. At the age of eleven he gave his first public performance as a pianist with the Omsk Symphony Orchestra. In 1990 his family (his father a violinist and his mother a musicologist) relocated to Vorarlberg where his father worked as an orchestra musician and music teacher. Petrenko first continued his studies in Feldkirch before moving to Vienna to study conducting at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts.

His first job after graduation took him directly to the Vienna Volksoper where he was hired by Nikolaus Bachler as Kapellmeister. From 1999 until 2002 Kirill Petrenko was General Music Director at the Meininger Theater. It was in 2001 in his role as conductor of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, in the production by Christine Mielitz and with scenery by Alfred Hrdlicka, that he first achieved international acclaim. In 2002 Kirill Petrenko became General Music Director of the Komische Oper Berlin where, until 2007, he was credited with a series of highly significant productions.

During his time in Meiningen and Berlin his international career also began to flourish. In 2000 Kirill Petrenko made his debut at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, in 2001 at the Vienna Staatsoper and the Dresden Semperoper, in 2003 at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, the Opéra National de Paris, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, the Bayerische Staatsoper, the New York Metropolitan Opera and in 2005 at the Oper Frankfurt. In Lyon, in collaboration with Peter Stein, he conducted all three Pushkin-inspired operas by Tchaikovsky (Mazeppa, Eugene Onegin and Pique Dame) from 2006 until 2008, which were also performed as a cycle in early 2010.

After moving on from the Komische Oper Berlin Kirill Petrenko worked as a freelance conductor. During this period his projects included conducting a new production of Leoš Janáček's Jenůfa (Production: Barbara Frey) at the Bayerische Staatsoper in 2009. In Frankfurt he conducted Pfitzner's Palestrina (Production: Harry Kupfer) and Puccini's Tosca (Production: Andreas Kriegenburg). In 2011 he worked on two new productions of Tristan and Isolde at the Opéra National de Lyon and at the Ruhrtriennale.

To date, the most important orchestras Kirill Petrenko has been invited to conduct include the Berlin Philharmonic, the Dresden Staatskapelle, the BR Symphony Orchestra, the Bayerische Staatsorchester, the WDR Cologne Symphony Orchestra, the Hamburg Philharmonic and the NDR Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, the Frankfurt Opern- und Museumsorchester, the Amsterdam Concertgebouworkest, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Santa Cecilia Orchestra in Rome, the RAI National Symphony Orchestra in Turin and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Kirill Petrenko has also conducted concerts at the Bregenz and Salzburg Festivals. From 2013 to 2015 he swung his baton for the new production of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen during the Bayreuth Festival.

Since September 2013 Kirill Petrenko has been General Music Director at the Bayerische Staatsoper. He will be working in this position until the end of the 2019/20 season. Since 2013, he has taken to the rostrum for premieres of Die Frau ohne Schatten, La clemenza di Tito, Die Soldaten, Lucia di Lammermoor, Lulu, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsenk District and Tannhäuser as well as the world premiere of Miroslav Srnka’s South Pole and a revival of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen among other works. In June 2015, Kirill Petrenko was named future Chief Conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, starting this position in autumn 2019.

In the current season at the Bayerische Staatsoper Kirill Petrenko led an new production ofVerdi's Otello and Strauss' Salome. Furthermore, Kirill Petrenko conducts revivals of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Fidelio, and Parsifal as well as two Academy Concerts with the Bayerische Staatsorchester.

Bayerische Staatsoper

Die Bayerische Staatsoper

Tradition, continuity and an impressive repertoire: these are the solid pillars supporting the Bayerische Staatsoper – one of the world’s leading opera houses. It can look back proudly on a cultural history of over 350 years. Thanks to a court tradition, opera found a home in Munich in 1653; since then its music-historical and sociopolitical development has continued in a way unparalleled anywhere else, worldwide.The Bayerische Staatsoper, with some 600,000 persons attending its over 450 performances each year, makes a major contribution to Munich’s reputation as one of the great international cultural capitals.

In the course of a single season, over 40 operas from four centuries are performed along with ballets, concerts and song recitals. This makes the programme of the Bayerische Staatsoper one of the most richly varied performance schedules of all the international opera houses. With 2,101 seats, the Bayerische Staatsoper’s principal performance venue, the National Theatre – built in classicistic style in 1818 – is the largest opera house in Germany and ranks as one of the handsomest theatres in Europe. Tours of the National Theatre take place almost every day.